


Sea and Stars

by SeveralSmallHedgehogs



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, i love them, it's peaceful, kinda-sorta, takes place before the Castle of Lions lifts off, they're literally just talking and watching the sun set
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-08-10 05:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7831438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeveralSmallHedgehogs/pseuds/SeveralSmallHedgehogs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance shows Keith a secret spot he's found on the cliffs, and they get to talking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sea and Stars

**Author's Note:**

> So I may or may not be using writing to work through some of my own stuff... missing places and people, you know?
> 
> A certain someone dragged me into Klance hell and they know who they are

          When Keith walked into the common room around sunset, Lance was already there, lounging sideways on one of the couches. Keith wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and took a seat across from Lance, dropping his bayard on the couch next to him. “Have you been in here all day?” he asked, looking around for his jacket. But it was nowhere to be found- he must’ve left it in the training room.

          “Pretty much,” was the reply. “You just been training all day?”

          “At least I’m doing something useful,” Keith scolded him. “It’s no wonder you’re a terrible fighter- you never practice _anything_.”

          Lance shrugged. “Hey, you practice all the time, and we’re still pretty even with the lions. If you ask me, that says more about you than it does about me.” Keith’s expression darkened, but Lance was still talking. “Besides, I’ve been doing _tons_ of useful stuff. Like, I found the kitchen.”

          “We all know where the kitchen is, Lance.”

          Ignoring him, Lance went on, “And I found a bathroom with more showers, and a place that looks like a nursery, which is kind of creepy, really, and I found this _great_ spot on the cliffs where there’s a real nice view, and-”

          Keith interrupted him again. “Cliffs?” he repeated.

“What, you’ve never been on the cliffs?” Lance sat up and eyed him.

          Keith sat back, crossing his arms. “I’ve been a little busy _training,_ Lance. I’ve never had time to go mess around on the cliffs.”

          “You mean, you didn’t know there _were_ cliffs,” Lance corrected, smirking.

          “This whole _castle_ is on a cliff.”

          Lance didn’t even bother to reply. Instead he got to his feet. “Come on,” he said, waving for Keith to follow him.

          But Keith didn’t move. “Where are you going?”

          “I’m showing you the cliffs. Otherwise you won’t ever realize how awesome they are and how awesome it is that _I_ found them, and you didn’t.”

          For another moment Keith remained sitting. He didn’t want to go anywhere with Lance, but… he also couldn’t stand the thought of Lance knowing stuff he didn’t. And, to tell the truth, he _was_ a little curious.

          Wordlessly he got up and followed Lance out of the room.

          They passed through a few rooms and hallways Keith had never been in- he’d never really bothered exploring the Castle of Lions- before Lance led him out the front doors and across the bridge. At the other end, Lance abruptly turned left and started around the side of the castle. Keith had to trot to keep up with his long strides. Why did Lance have to be so damn tall?

          Around the back of the castle, completely out of sight of the bridge, Lance stopped in front of a rock outcropping. “You can climb down here,” he said, and promptly demonstrated. Keith carefully followed him down to an outcropping roughly ten feet below the cliff. It was a perfect hiding place- if anyone came looking around the back of the castle, they’d never see the outcropping unless they were right over it and happened to look down.

          “See?” Lance sat down and scooted out on his skinny butt to let one leg dangle over the edge. “Pretty sweet, right?”

          “Move over,” Keith told him, choosing to sit cross-legged about a foot away from him. Once he was settled, he rested his elbows on his knees and looked out over the water. He had to admit, it _was_ a pretty nice view. The setting sun turned the sky a fiery orange, a color that was reflected off of the water.

          “How did you find this place?” he asked after a minute.

          “I was looking for it,” Lance replied, leaning back on his hands. “I wanted to find someplace that reminded me of home, and I found this.”

          Keith glanced over at him. “How does it remind you of home?”

          “The water,” Lance replied. His voice grew quiet. “I lived near the ocean for pretty much my whole life. When I’m sitting here, and I can hear the water and I can’t see the castle or any of the cliffs or anything, I can almost pretend I’m back home on Earth.”

          Neither of them spoke for a few minutes. Way in the distance, the sun was sinking below the waves. Lance sighed deeply and sat back, smiling. The silence felt comfortable- too comfortable, so Keith felt like he had to break it somehow. “The Galaxy Garrison must’ve been weird,” he noted.

          Lance gave a single laugh. “You have no idea. I went from the seashore to the desert. If I hadn’t made friends with Hunk… man, I don’t know if I would’ve stayed.” He paused, and then looked at Keith. “What about you?”

          “Huh?” Keith had drifted off into his own thoughts. “Me?”

          “Yeah. What do you miss about Earth?”

          Keith shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it.”

          “Oh, come on. Don’t you miss your home, or anything?” Lance wanted to know.

          “Not really,” Keith replied without missing a beat. He failed to notice the way Lance’s eyebrows drew together in confusion. “There’s nothing for me there. I don’t see any reason why I’d want to go back.”

          Lance sat forward, trying to catch Keith’s eye. “What do you mean, there’s ‘nothing for you?’ What about your family?”

          Only then did Keith turn to look at him. “I was living in a one-room shack in the middle of a desert, Lance. What in the world makes you think I have a _family?_ ”

          The bitterness in his tone was enough to make Lance blink in surprise. “Dude, _everyone’s_ got a family,” he said without thinking.

          Keith’s expression twisted into a scowl that was somehow worse than the one he usually wore- a combination of anger and bitterness and something else; disappointment, maybe. Betrayal. As if he couldn’t believe Lance would say something like that to him. “Well, I don’t,” he said harshly. “And I don’t have the time to be sitting around doing nothing.” He got to his feet. “I’ll see you later.”

          “Wait!” Lance grabbed his wrist. “I shouldn’t have said that, okay? I’m sorry.”

          For a minute Keith just stood there, looking down at him. Then he pulled his arm out of Lance’s grip. Lance was opening his mouth to say something else, to try to stop him again, when he realized Keith wasn’t turning to leave- he was taking a seat on the cliff again. He was sitting a lot closer this time, so close Lance could feel the heat from his thigh. Keith didn’t seem to notice, though.

          The sun had already slipped below the horizon. They watched in silence as the fire faded from the clouds, and dark, deep blue crept across the sky. Points of light were already visible high above them.

Keith leaned on his hands and tilted his head back, and finally, he spoke again. “The stars.”

          Lance looked at him. “What?”

          “I miss the stars,” Keith said softly. “The constellations. I had a great view of them out in the desert. None of the light pollution, you know?” He paused for a second before continuing. “I mean, there are still stars here, but they’re not the same ones. And I don’t know any of the constellations... I knew pretty much all of them back home.”

          Lance waited a moment, but Keith didn’t continue. “…That’s all?” he prompted.

          For a second Keith didn’t answer. “No,” he said quietly. “I miss seeing the tracks the jackrabbits always left in the dirt. And I miss listening to cicadas, and coyotes. And finding snakeskins near my house.”

          Lance sat up to stare at him. “You miss _snakeskins?_ ”  
          Keith shrugged. “You take what you can get in the desert. They look cool. Especially when you can get a whole one.” He was silent for a second. His eyes narrowed. “You know what I _don’t_ miss? Scorpions.”

          “Ugh, don’t remind me.” Lance shuddered. “We used to find them every time we left the garrison. I _hate_ those things.”

          “At least you never found any in your sheets.”

          “Yeah.” Lance laughed before realizing that Keith didn’t do humor. He straightened. “Wait, you actually found a scorpion in your sheets once?”

          “More than once,” Keith replied.

          “You ever get stung?”

          Keith snorted. “Please. I’m not an idiot,” he said, dropping to his elbows, and from there settling on his back. He put his hands behind his head. “I know how to get rid of a scorpion without getting stung.”

          Then he fell silent again, but Lance didn’t want to stop talking. He’d never seen Keith like this- not irritated, or impatient, or frustrated, or a combination of all three. Back when he’d been a student at the garrison, he’d always seemed like he was straining against a short leash. He’d had so many ideas, so much talent, but he was never allowed to use any of it. He’d had to stick to the rules and schedules, and they’d been strangling him.

          “…Do you ever miss the garrison?” Lance wanted to know.

          “Never.” Keith closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “Voltron is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

          Lance studied him for a moment. Before Keith could open his eyes and ask what he was looking at, Lance shifted and settled on his back next to him. “The stars still look cool,” he said after a second.

          “Could you just… be quiet for a while?” Keith murmured. “Just…” He trailed off when a wind blew up off the waves, ruffling their hair.

          Understanding him for once, Lance rested his hands on his stomach and looked up at the dark places between the stars. He’d never thought he’d feel this peaceful with Keith, but here they were.

          The sunlight had disappeared completely, revealing so many stars it reminded Lance of the time one of his little siblings spilled a whole jar of glitter across a table. The sudden, unexpected reminder of home made his throat tighten. But no way was he _ever_ going to cry in front of Keith. Or next to him. Whatever.

          After a long, long time, another wind blew up off the water and Keith shivered. Lance realized he wasn’t wearing his jacket. His first thought, strangely, was to scoot over so he was up against Keith. Then he realized that Keith might be a little weirded out if Lance tried to cuddle with him. They weren’t _that_ close.

“It can get pretty cold out here at night,” Lance said, trying to distract himself. “You want to head back inside?”

          Keith didn’t reply right away, and when he did, his voice was so quiet Lance could’ve sworn he’d said, “Not really.”

          “What?” Lance asked. “I couldn’t hear you.”

          There was a pause, and then Keith sighed. “Yeah. We’ve been out here for a while. I’ll bet everyone’s wondering where we are.” He sat up and stretched one arm across his chest. “I’ll have to tell Allura that this is where you keep running off to,” he said, getting up and heading for the rocks to climb back up.

          “ _What?_ ” Lance’s voice shot up an octave. He scrambled to his feet, gaping. “But- you jerk! I let you in on something cool and _this_ is the thanks I get?”

          Keith reached the top and turned around, smirking. “It’s a nice spot. And I guess it’s mine now.” He started off toward the castle.

          “No, it’s not! It’s still mine! I found it first!” Lance was still squawking as he trotted after Keith toward the castle. “You can’t just _take_ my spot!”

          “Then what were you planning to do? _Share_ it?”

          “Yeah!”

When Keith processed what Lance had said, he stopped and turned around. Lance crossed his arms, dead serious. Really, though, his expression was hilarious. Keith managed to keep a straight face for approximately two seconds before he just lost it.

          Lance blinked and let his arms drop to his sides, stunned for the second time in as many minutes as Keith actually doubled over laughing. “What’s so funny, huh?” he demanded, crossing his arms again and scowling.

          But Keith couldn’t have answered him if he’d wanted to. It was a few moments before he got ahold of himself and managed to straighten up. It was another second or two before he could finally speak. “Fine,” he conceded. “We’ll share it. And I won’t tell Allura,” he added.

          “Yeah, see?” Lance told him, still serious. “That’s better. It not _your_ spot. It’s _our_ spot.” He immediately regretted saying that- seriously, _“our spot?”_ \- but it was too late to take it back now.

          And Keith didn’t seem to mind. “That works,” he said, looking out over the water again. Then he looked back at Lance, and he smiled. “Our spot.”


End file.
